A Great Cosmic Clock – Perseid Meteor Shower

The Perseid meteor shower occurs around August 12th every year. EVERY YEAR.

Above, a so so “capture” from the NJ Pinelands of a Perseid meteor last year (8/13/15 – 18mm ISO 4000, 15″, f/4, enlarged)

This morning, while watching for and seeing a few impressive Perseid meteors, I tried thinking of the first time I ever saw a meteor. My memory brought me back to a family vacation in Barnegat Light, New Jersey – a rental property near the beach with a flat roof accessible by outside stairs. Years later, while scanning old B&W pictures, I failed to establish an accurate date for that particulal week, but at 4:30 AM this morning, out there in the night, I recalled as a young boy being “scared” at the frequent fast moving streaks in the dark sky during that vacation. Dad was introducing my brother and me to ‘meteors.’

I pondered that memory and the timely annual recurrence of meteor showers… and realized (as an aside,) that I finally had an accurate date frame for that early Jersey Shore vacation! All in all pretty insignificant, but…how neat!

Above, Dad on the roof – town of Barnegat Light, NJ.

Below, my older brother and me on the beach, with Barnegat Lighthouse beyond.

As usual, comments and inquiries are welcomed. Thanks for viewing. M 🙂

7 thoughts on “A Great Cosmic Clock – Perseid Meteor Shower”

One of the disappointments with moving here is that we are not getting the clear night skies that we are used to. I’m pretty sure I could drive about an hour and get to higher ground, but even that does not guarantee a clear sky.

I will be missing the meteors this year as right now we are under heavy cloud cover that is not likely to clear.

Nice story and photos.

I don’t remember the first time I saw meteors, but it’s probably linked to the times I went to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as that was also the first time I saw, really saw, the stars from a place with little to no light pollution.

A long term bucket list item has been driving up to the summit of Mona Kea, and the observatories. (Would also love hiking up there, and of course the photo ops must be phenomenal!) In that respect it’s got to be a exceptional advantage to living on the big island. It would take me hours to drive far enough away from the North-East cities to see that Milky Way painted across the sky, (as seen outside Sedona some years ago, and in Utah this past November!). AND, just living in Hawaii – to me….. Whooo, not bad. 🙂